While most of my army remains to be purchased (stupid job market), I've finished working up most of the backstory elements and other fluff, so I figured I might as well post it and get your input on it while I work on building the rest of the army.

Frangerian Backstory

Among the many great powers battling for galactic dominance, the small collection of worlds known as the Frangerian Protectorate has perhaps the most unusual origin. In the wake of FICO, many empires began to shift to a war footing, coalescing into two great alliances. Great fleets clashed, heroes rose and fell, planets burned, and weapons of unparalleled power were unleashed, as the galaxy was shaken by the largest war in living memory. The peach vs yellow war soon became a minor front in this new conflict of Immortal vs anti-immortal, as battle lines took shape across known space.

Into this maelstrom, one small planet began its own expansion. Ignorant of the larger war blazing across the brikverse, a great fleet was forged. They raised vast armies were to conquer the stars, and equipped them with weapons more powerful than any other. It was said that one conscript was the equal of any other nation’s commandos, and that no force could oppose the conquering armada’s might. Truly, the brikverse would never be the same. Full of pride, the fleet launched, confident that the galaxy was ripe for conquest.

They were wrong.

The weapons and armor their home nation had given them proved woefully inadequate. Their ships were primitive and weak compared to even the second and third line vessels of their rivals. The technology and tactics that had helped them conquer their home world were centuries out of date. The massive army was dwarfed by the reserve forces of the great powers, which were in turn a mere fraction of their field strength. There was indeed an unstoppable armada with the will to bring the brikverse to heel, but it definitely wasn’t those poor sods.

Mere days after launching, the fleet encountered a smaller fleet of ASE warships. The resulting battle came to be known as the Shattering, as the Assyrians casually obliterated most of the opposing fleet. Admiral Donner threw most of his warships at the Assyrian fleet, buying time for a handful of his ships to recharge their hyperdrives and flee. His last act was to ram his flagship into an ASE carrier, obliterating his own vessel and badly damaging the Assyrian warship.

A handful of Donner’s ships managed to escape, fleeing into the battle with their hulls battered their crews devastated. Admiral Donner’s last order had been to flee away from their home and to never return. The only exception to that command had been a small courtier ship, returning with news of the hostile galaxy Donner had stumbled into. The survivors of the Shattering knew that any dreams of carving out an empire among the stars had died with the rest of the fleet. Scrubbing their nav computers of any trace of their homeworld, they set out to find a new home.

After several weeks, they stumbled upon an inhabited planet, a small medieval world being contested by two rival kingdoms. The Leonic Empire and the Frangerian League. When the fleet arrived, the League was crumbling, with only a few more decades before it collapsed complete. As the fleet’s food supply’s dwindled, it became clear that only an alliance with one of the terrestrial realms could save them. After several days of deliberation, the remaining command staff decided to began negotiations with the League. “If we aid the Leonics, we’ll only hasten their inevitable victory. If we aid the League, we’ll save their kingdom.” Said one of the generals during the announcement. “And that means they’ll owe us, big-time.”

The alliance proved fruitful, and within weeks the combined force had pushed the Leonic Empire back, relieving dozens of besieged cities. Within months, the Frangerian League was starting to put the Empire on the defensive, and a year later, had crush their ancient rival. For the first time in centuries, Frangeria knew peace.

During the war, the two armies had grown closer and closer together, and by the time the Leonic capital flee, they were acting as a unified force, with Marines providing cover fire for Frangerian swordsmen, Frangerian rangers rescuing ODSTs from imperial prisons, and satellite imagery helping cavalry units hunt down fleeing enemies. A year after the alliance began, it was announced that the conquered imperial provinces would not be occupied by Frangerian troops, but instead would be incorporated into the newly formed Frangerian Empire, a merger of the Frangerian League and the spaceborne soldiers of a forgotten world.

The fledgling empire has expanded slowly, bringing more worlds under its control. It now rules nearly a half-dozen planets, and is fighting to claim twice that number. An alliance with the Immortals, coupled with the founding of several research labs, has given the Frangerians technology equal to that of any of the major powers, and they’ve become the leading experts in several fields, creating devices such as the Anti-Missile Laser Defense system, or the newly developed Anti-Missile Proximity Fuse. Due to the Empires relatively small size, great pains are taken to conceal its location.

Strong ties with The Britannian League, as trade with the League helped get the Empire’s industry jumpstarted.

Hostile to Vol after several raids on Imperial worlds. Frangerian units will engage Vol on sight outside of joint operations ordered by the immortals (though there’s still a fair amount of friendly fire, along with the odd artillery barrage that “accidentally” falls short and plasters the Vol formations)

Extremely hostile to ASE. Frangerian units will almost always throw their full force at Assyrian troopers, to the point that Frangerians have been known to ignore more pressing threats in favor of engaging the Assyrians.

Neutral to Scythian Empire. The Frangerians don’t want to risk a confrontation with the Scythians, as their ongoing conquest of local planets coupled with dispatching troops to the immortal war and fighting the ASE is at the limits of what they can sustain with their limited manpower. The Scythians are also one of the few factions that have the Frangerians at a technological disadvantage, and after the Shattering, the Frangerians are unwilling to risk their soldiers by taking on a technologically superior enemy.

Current Military operations:

Border Wars: The bulk of the Frangerian military is devoted to conquering the nearby star systems, collectively called the Border wars. Most opponents are of a medieval to late renaissance tech level, though some are farther along. In some cases, the Frangerians have local allies, but most of the time they’re going it alone. Notable battlefronts include:[Name pending], a world inhabited by orks that has already started providing troops to the rest of the Empire[Name pending], a 1930’s era semi-steampunk world fractured into dozens of competing nations, where many battles revolve around securing or seizing ancient magical artifacts (read: Lego Adventurers planet). This planet is also supplying troops to the larger Frangerian war effort.[Name pending], a resource rich planet devoid of sapient life, but with lots of dangerous hostile wildlife.

Incursion War: Frangeria has a twin planet on the opposite side of the system’s sun, infested with Negablocks and other Cloans. The Frangerians have been fighting to contain the invaders, and have managed to create an alliance with a few groups of Negablocks. So far, the Frangerians have only managed to secure a few small beachheads. Weapons and vehicles captured in the Incursion war have been modified with Frangerian technology and used on other battlefronts with great success.

Leonic Insurgency: Elements of the Leonic Empire did not take their defeat well, and have waged a guerrilla war ever since. The Leonic holdouts were considered a minor nuisance at first, however they became a priority target after they began a string of assassinations targeting Frangerian research scientists.

Immortal War: Frangerian troops have been dispatched to join the larger Immortal armies. Frangeria soldiers have fought in several minor skirmishes, though they have yet to participate in a larger battle. Troops that have served with the Immortal armies and returned are some of the most skilled and formidable troops in the Frangerian Empire.

Assyrian Raiding Campaign: The Frangerians have been raiding the ASE’s borders and smaller military installations. So far, they’ve had no major successes, but the technology and weapons recovered by the raiding teams have been very helpful to Frangerian R&D.

Counter-Piracy Operations: The Frangerian Navy has been devoting most of its strength towards crushing pirate groups in and around Frangerian territory, sometimes in joint operations with the Britannians. Since the Frangerian shipbuilding industry is still in its infancy and the regular fleet was crippled in the Shattering, seized pirate ships make up a considerable portion of the navy’s strength.